New router prevents HD300 server connection

[timg11]

I upgraded my old WRT54G router to the Cisco E4200.
After making this change, my HD-300 will not connect to the Sage server. The HD300 sits forever on the screen that says "WOL packet has been sent, waiting for the server to wake". The server is awake, and it can even successfully ping the HD-300. I tried turning the Sage services off and on at the server but it doesn't help.

I still had the WRT54G, so I swapped it back in. After that, the HD-300 would connect again.

The HD-300 is connected to the Sage server through a gigabit Ethernet switch. That switch also connects to a second gigabit switch near the router, and the LAN port on the router also connects to the second gigabit switch.

The UPNP service on the E4200 is disabled. Can anyone think of anything that a router could do that would prevent an HD-300 from finding its server?

Does anyone have any details on the exact packet exchange that goes on between the HD-300 and the server during the discovery and connection process? Maybe I could monitor it with Wireshark on the server computer?

[MattHelm]

Do you manually assign the IP address to everything, or do you let DHCP do it?

Did you use assigned IP addresses on the old router? If so, so routers require addresses to be in the auto assign range, and other require them to be outside the range.

List the IP (gateway, mask, DNS, etc) on the server and the HD300, please.

That's all I can think of for now.

[timg11]

All devices are configured for DHCP clients, using reservations on the DHCP server based on MAC address. So they never change and are essentially static. The DHCP server is running on a Windows 2008 Server. (a different machine than the Sage Server)

The router has its internal DHCP server disabled. (yes, I double checked to be sure).

Addresses on both old and new routers are the same: 192.168.1.254.
The Windows server also provides DNS - 192.168.1.1.
DNS setting is included as part of DHCP lease.

Settings for the HD300 are
IP 192.168.1.130
mask 255.255.255.0
GW 192.168.1.254
DNS 192.168.1.1

Settings for the Sage Server are
IP 192.168.1.110
mask 255.255.255.0
GW 192.168.1.254
DNS 192.168.1.1

I don't suspect IP issues, since I can ping the HD-300 from the Sage Server at the proper address. the Sage Server is at the proper address. I had the HD-300 search for any server and it found nothing. I entered the IP address of the server into the HD-300 and it still didn't find it. I even brought out my "backup" HD-300, and it couldn't find any sage server on the network. Only after swapping the router back to the old WRT54G did the HD-300 find the server.

[gplasky]

Is a firewall stopping the discovery? When you swapped out the router did the home network change to public network?

Gerry

[timg11]

I had already tried turning off the firewall just in case something strange happened there, but that did not change anything.

But the Home Network had changed to public network. Good tip - I didn't know that could spontaneously change. I changed it back to Home Network, and the HD-300 immediately connected.

This teaches me two things:
1) The home vs public network setting causes rules to take effect that are above and beyond (and independent from) the Windows Firewall.

2) Windows must monitor the MAC address of the gateway, because I can't think of any other way it could assume there is a new network. The IP address structure, the DHCP, DNS, SMB, WINS servers and everything else in the network are unchanged.

Thanks!

[TBS]

I just had the same thing happen to me. So glad for this thread, I never would have figured it out myself!

[jt4242]

Thanks so much!! Just got a new ISP and had SAME problem - would never have thought of home vs public network!

[ThePaladinTech]

Originally Posted by timg11

1) The home vs public network setting causes rules to take effect that are above and beyond (and independent from) the Windows Firewall.

Their are seperate firewall rules for private and public networks.
I've noticed that windows ten has a habit of just making a 'new' network public without asking / notifying you it did so. wheras older version of windows would say "hey I found a 'new' network what do you want me to?"

[AzJazz]

I'm in the same boat as the OP's issue, but I have my Win7x64 Network already set for "Home", and I still can't find the SageTV server on the network.

I know that the problem is Win7 Firewall-related. If I disable the Win7 Firewall, my HD300 can see and auto-connect to my SageTV server just fine.

I used the UPnP option for setting the router port forwarding. TCP 31099 and UDP 58107 are on the UPnP port list. (Not sure if all of those are SageTV ports - I know that 31099 is). I also manually added UDP 31100.

What do I need to change in my existing Win7 Firewall settings to get the SageTV server visible on the new network?

[Fuzzy]

Disable the Windows firewall.

[AzJazz]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

Disable the Windows firewall.

Hi, Fuzzy - I would, if I had another firewall installed. Pretty dangerous to not wear protection when you go surfing ...

So ... I figured out a solution for my SageTV connection problem a few minutes ago.

I dug into the Windows Firewall settings, and I noticed that I only had firewall entries for C:\Program Files (x86)\SageTV\SageTV\SageTV.exe. I didn't have any entries for C:\Program Files (x86)\SageTV\SageTV\SageTVService.exe

When I added a new Public/Private Windows Firewall entry for C:\Program Files (x86)\SageTV\SageTV\SageTVService.exe, I can now connect to the SageTV Server OK.

AzJazz

[Korny]

Unless you are directly connecting your computer to your cablemodem/dsl/ect.... or are putting your computer in the DMZ on your router there really is no point to a windows firewall. NAT(network address translation) in itself provides good protection and most routers nowadays also have built in firewalls. Unless you don't trust other computers on your personal network I agree with Fuzzy

[Fuzzy]

Your router IS a firewall. Other walls built up behind your router are just there to get in YOUR way.

[Taddeusz]

I'll reiterate and add that unless it's a laptop that is going to be attaching to unknown networks a firewall on individual computers is, for the most part, redundant if you have a good router.

That being said the only case where a firewall would be useful on individual computers is to block specific outgoing traffic. But, AFAIK, the Windows firewall is very permissive in this department and won't block outgoing traffic unless you specifically tell it what you want to block. This compared to other firewall software that blocks all traffic unless you specifically allow it.

In the case of SageTV it's blocking the incoming traffic of clients trying to find potential SageTV servers.

If you really want some sort of security division on your network the guest access provided by many wireless routers provides the necessary wall to prevent guest devices from communicating with the rest of your network.

[massmanjr]

I recently changed my router as well. My HD300 can't see the server. I've disabled the firewall, ensured the connection is set to 'home' (i.e. not public) with no luck. Please see the attached screenshots from my system. All entries in the 'windows firewall with advanced security' screen were apparently automatically put there when I originally installed Sage. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated as it is very frustrating not to be able to use my two extenders.

[NetworkGuy]

Does the HD300 have a static or dynamic IP address?

Can you ping the HD300 from the server?

Can you browser the network from the HD300?

[massmanjr]

IP address is dhcp(automatic). I'm using a wired connection into the same switch where the server is wired. I can ping the HD300 from the server. The HD300 connects to the internet just fine. When I 'browse' folders from the Sage extender main menu, I get 0 items returned when trying to browse the server.

[massmanjr]

I should clarify, from the HD300, I am able to browse the Plex folders on the server (I run plex and sage from the same server). I'm able to play videos on the HD300 that are in the Plex folders on my server.

[massmanjr]

I found the problem. Apparently this is an ID-10T error on my part. I was recently troubleshooting a problem with one of the HDHomerun tuners (near the same time I installed the new router) and I went through the configuration wizard setup fairly quickly to reinstall the tuner. As I was blazing through the wizard I inadvertently didn't enable the entender/placeshifter. Sorry for the confusion. I was chasing my tail on the router issue when all along I was the culprit.

[NetworkGuy]

Originally Posted by massmanjr

I found the problem. Apparently this is an ID-10T error on my part.

I prefer the term PICNIC - problem in chair not in computer.

Glad you found it.